Big Budget Deal in Senate Hailed as “Genuine Breakthrough”

The House narrowly passed a sweeping bipartisan budget accord Friday morning, ending an hours-long government shutdown and clearing a path for huge spending increases for both the Pentagon and domestic programs. All told, the bill hikes federal spending about $400 billion through September 2019. However, it does not include funding for border security or deal with protecting young illegal migrants brought to the U.S. as children. “I’m also not advocating for keeping the damn thing open and borrowing a million dollars a minute”, Paul said on Fox News.

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Later Wednesday, the Senate still plans to vote on the House-passed standalone defense funding bill, which is expected to fail at a procedural vote. “Yet, the Budget Caps Deal is a struggle for any one with fiscal concerns”.

What to really watch today: The House floor during each unrelated vote Thursday. A measure to increase or suspend the debt ceiling could be added to other legislation before the end of the month. What’s being worked out is the timing.

The White House in the U.S. Capitol.

Important note: CNN’s Congress extraordinaire Deirdre Walsh picked this up Wednesday night – don’t be surprised if there’s a move at some point to push through a 24-hour continuing resolution extension.

Once known as the party of fiscal conservatism, the Republicans and Mr Trump are quickly expanding the nation’s budget deficit and its $US20 trillion national debt. John Cornyn declared his fellow Republican was “wasting everyone’s time” and prompting a shutdown for “no good reason”. “Some discussion of that remains”.

A congressional source familiar with the agreement said it would increase non-defense spending by $131 billion and include $20 billion for infrastructure spending.

He said he expects it to pass the House because of the amount of defense spending included.

“The compromise we have reached will ensure that for the first time in years, our armed forces will have more of the resources they need to keep America safe”, McConnell said. “We’ll do a shutdown and it’s worth it for our country”, said Tuesday afternoon in a roundtable meeting with law enforcement officials.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said that President Donald Trump’s support is a must for any immigration reform bill to proceed and that the lower chamber will address DACA separately from appropriations.

The budget deal has also lost considerable support from conservatives like the House Freedom Caucus, who adopted a formal position against the plan.

The Kentucky Republican took the floor to blast the increase in federal spending limits, and in particular the fiscal irresponsibility of his own party. The deal, crafted by congressional leaders, also sets the stage for additional policy concessions, including a so-called gentlemen’s agreement to bail out Obamacare. Some other veteran Democrats – some of whom said holding the budget deal hostage to action on Dreamer immigrants had already proven to be a failed strategy – appeared more likely to support the agreement than junior progressives elected in recent years. Also: Funding for disaster relief, children’s healthcare and opioid addiction.

Raising the budget caps has been on the table for months but has always been entangled with the contentious immigration debate.

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“My commitment to working together on an immigration measure that we can make law is a honest commitment”, Ryan said.